A Bright New Idea

Our daughter Rachel has been with us over the Christmas holidays, and has hatched a bright new idea for the new year which I want to share with you. She is starting a blog about trying something new every day for a year! She is going to do just that, and blog about her experiences. Her blog will include lots of pics and short film clips, and those of you who know her know that it will be very entertaining and lots of fun to check out. You might even want to join her (I do) in trying something new each day, and now and then letting her know your experiences and ideas. She would welcome that.

Just go to www.letsdosomethingnew.com and see for yourself what she is up to. I can vouch for the fact that she has been working really hard (okay, obsessively!) to get her blog up and running. We have been having fun brainstorming ideas of new things for her to try.

Another great idea Rachel gave me is based on the book (a Christmas present from her) titled "TWENTY NINE GIFTS: HOW A MONTH OF GIVING CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE" by Cami Walker. The author lives in Rachel's condo complex near the Hollywood Bowl in LA and Rachel met her pool-side one day and found out about her book.

It is a most inspiring story, written by someone who was suffering a bad case of MS, and found, to her amazement, that the simple act of intentionally giving in some way to someone every day was incredibly healing as well as rewarding. (See more about this at www.29gifts.org) I am thinking maybe I could combine the two ideas by giving in some way that would also be trying something new each day for a month. Even the effort of "29 gifts" would be a new thing to try for me, and maybe for you too. It sounds like a lot more fun than the usual list of New Years resolutions which seldom get carried out anyway.

I think we all do a lot of giving and trying of new things anyway, but we are not aware and intentional about it, and this just gives us the reward of greater consciousness. The secret of success in this effort is probably to keep it simple and realistically something we can and will do, in harmony with our self-knowledge. And if giving and trying something new expands our appreciation for ourselves, our lives, and others, that is great gain, and practically guarantees a Happy New Year.